Congress using CBI against me to fight polls: Modi

"The CBI and not the Congress is contesting the state assembly polls against me," sources quoted Modi as saying at the BJP's national executive meet here.

According to BJP sources, Modi said the Congress, which used a section of the bureaucracy against him in previous polls, had now deployed "an investigation agency" (read CBI) to defeat him in the state elections likely to be held in December this year.

Addressing the party's national executive here, Modi also accused the central government of indulging in corruption and of misgovernance, said BJP sources.

On its part, the BJP chose not to publicise Modi's remarks fearing the hardline leader, who is a strong contender for the prime ministership in the 2014 general elections, would hog the limelight over the party's national executive meet.

Sources said the BJP is grappling with the leadership issue and would not like to project Modi too much at the meet.

This was also evident from the fact that the party's posters at the venue carried pictures of Modi along with other chief ministers like Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh and P.K. Dhumal of Himachal Pradesh and central leaders like L.K. Advani, M.M. Joshi, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.

Almost the entire BJP national executive meet at Mumbai in May was hijacked by the fact that party president Nitin Gadkari had to remove senior leader Sanjay Joshi from the national council so Modi could attend the meet.

Earlier, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said a CBI extension counter should be opened at the Congress office as it uses the probe agency to harass its allies and the opposition.